WASHINGTON — March 28, 2022 — America’s Public Television Stations today praised President Biden’s recommendation of $565 million in advance funding for public broadcasting in his fiscal year 2023 budget.
“We very much appreciate the President’s endorsement of public media’s public service missions and his proposal for a $40 million increase in the federal investment for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” said Patrick Butler, president and chief executive officer of America’s Public Television Stations. “We are grateful for this recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities and the essential services they provide all Americans in education, public safety and civic leadership.
“This role and these services have never been more memorably demonstrated than in the past two years, when public television stations stood up remote learning services in all 50 States in response to the coronavirus pandemic and deployed our datacasting capability to provide educational resources to students without broadband connections. We also conveyed COVID-related information from Governors, State health and education officials, and other authorities to millions of viewers through our role as the “C-SPAN” of many State governments and as the chronicler of hometown America’s history, culture and public affairs.
“The President’s funding recommendation would help restore the $100 million in lost purchasing power caused by 10 years of flat federal funding for CPB, and if approved by Congress will set us on a path toward dramatic improvements in the ability of local public television stations to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.
“We are also appreciative that the President’s budget recommends $60 million in FY 2023 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies. This fund also supports important system-wide digital infrastructure, addressing our system’s growing needs including cybersecurity, modern content delivery networks, and data management, among others.
“In addition, we are pleased by the President’s continued support and recommendation of funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America. This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers.
“We also remain hopeful that Congress will include level funding of $40 million for the Next Generation Warning System at FEMA to support the public media infrastructure that the nation depends on to transmit emergency alerts and warnings to every part of the country. Public broadcasting stations reach 99% of the American people, making us an essential part of the national alert and warning system. A recent CPB study identified at least $300 million in unmet infrastructure needs throughout the public media system – needs which threaten the reliability of our public safety mission. This program is critical to addressing those needs and enhancing the alert and warning capabilities on which our nation depends.
“We are grateful for the President’s strong support for public media and this promising beginning to the FY 2023 funding process. We look forward to working with the bipartisan public media supporters in Congress to ensure that this federal funding, so necessary to sustaining public media’s essential public service missions, is approved as the appropriations process moves forward."
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org